Booming tourism and development and lack of funds for protection are nibbling away the Great Wall, a famous landmark of China.

A latest report on the Great Wall shows that only one third of the 6,350 kilometers of wall now exists and the length is still shortening.

The Great Wall was first built in the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) as a major defensive project and rebuilt in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Surviving the times, the Great Wall was listed as a world cultural heritage site in 1987 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

The most recent case of damage happened last December in Hebei Province, north China. A survey team was stunned when they saw a 14-meter-long breach at the 600-year-old Hongyukou section of the Great Wall. The blocks removed from the Great Wall rampart had been set aside and on both sides of the breach, two sections of 1,000-meter new cement wall replaced the original wall.

Investigation showed that the project was part of the planned Hongyu Villa project, which was unauthorized by any cultural relic department, and the work unit was not qualified for construction on ancient buildings.

After being fined 100,000 yuan (US$12,000) for the damage to the Great Wall, the investor Zhou Wen felt he had been wronged. "I just wanted to repair it and protect it from deteriorating," said Zhou.

But the project destroyed the integrity of one of the best-preserved parts of the Ming Dynasty Great Wall, said Hao Sanjin, a member of the Great Wall Society of China.

"Improper repair is just one kind of destruction," said Dong Yaohui, general-secretary of the organization.

"It's much better to keep it as it was if we can't repair it properly."

The lack of awareness of conservation was a serious threat, said Dong. Many farmers along the wall even don't know that the Great Wall is under state protection. Wall bricks become their courtyard walls and even pig pens in some remote areas.

In the 1980s, cultural heritage departments provided subsidies to some farmers along the Great Wall to help with the protection of cultural relics and the spread of knowledge on protection among fellow farmers. But the subsidies stopped due to lack of funds.

Lack of money for protection organizations also tied protectors' hands, analysts say. A cultural relics protection center in Qinglong County of Hebei Province was set up in 1982 to protect the 184-km Great Wall in the region. With 2,000 yuan (US$241) of operating funds each year, the three staff of the center could not afford to do any real work.

Booming tourism, in itself, has increased the burden on the Great Wall. The Great Wall has offered popular scenic spots and brought huge profits in recent years. Statistics show that it receives about 10 million visitors every year all over the country.

Dong said tourism departments should try to find a balance between development and protection. Developing tourism resources of the wall should put construction of convenient transport facilities first but leave the original state of the wall untouched.

(Xinhua News Agency January 26, 2004)